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Although it may seem intimidating sports betting is actually VERY easy. There are few rules that you will need to understand in order to play, but in general players really don’t have to do much. Just pick a team and then sit back, enjoy the free drinks, and watch the game. Winning, however; is not as easy. There are a few simple guidelines that must be followed in order to come out ahead.
In order to make some money on sports betting, it is usually a good idea to make only a few bets. Spreading your money too thin will usually cause you to break and not give you a good chance of making any money. It also isn’t much fun if you plan on actually watching the game. For many people sports betting is just about betting on your favorite team and making the game a little more interesting. Another general rule of sports betting (like any game in the casino) is to set a dollar amount and stick to it. If you lose the amount of money you had set aside to play with, the game is over. Walk away. Another good rule is not to bet while intoxicated. Casinos hand out free drinks mainly because they want to cloud your judgment and keep you in the casino. Most games are simple, bet on the winning team and you win money. What can be difficult in most cases is figuring out exactly how much money you will win if betting on a certain team.
There is a growing trend in Vegas toward people betting on auto-racing. Many people choose to bet on a driver and this bet is simple. Each driver has odds just like you would have certain odds at any other game (horse racing works the same way). For example, if you bet on Jeff Gordon and his odds of winning that race are 10-1. If you bet $10 on him, and he won, you would win $100 plus the original $10 bet.
Much more complicated are bets that base your winnings off of a money line. This is most common in baseball and boxing. In games like basketball and football, you will on a point spread. Money lines are odds of a team winning based on a $1. What sets money lines apart from regular odds is that they are usually not as precise as other sports. In other words, who wins by how many points is not important. You are only betting on who you think will win the game. Most casinos use a “dime” or “20-cent” line. For example, if the Red Sox play the New York Yankees, the money line may look something like this: Red Sox -120 and Yankees +110. The (-) symbol denotes the team that is favored to win. Therefore if you bet $10 on the Red Sox, you would win $12 plus the original $10 that you bet. Which means you will walk away with a total of $22. An over/under bet is a little more simple. The casino will tell you how many total runs they think will be scored in a game. You will wager that the score will be either over or under the number of runs that the casino has provided. The odds for this type of bet are 10-11. This means that if the total runs is set at 20 and the game ends with a total runs of 22 and you bet on “over” then you will win $11 on a $10 bet. This is a fun way to play if you really just want to watch the game and don’t have a favorite team and are not sure who is going to win.
Run lines and point spreads. These two concepts are similar. Point spreads are used mostly in Football games. Let’s say the Jets are playing Patriots. Sports announcers often talk about what team is favored and by how many points. If the Patriots are favored to win by 14 points, this is likely the point spread that will be set at the casino. This means that you can bet on the Jets and still win money, even if they lose. The only way you would lose money is if the Patriots win by more than 14 points.
Sportsbooks at major casinos take many things into account when setting odds. Things like weather, injuries, home-field advantage, and even the number of people betting on a particular team are taken into account when figuring odds. Therefore the odds/point spread of a game may change as the game approaches. Placing a “future” bet locks you into the odds that were in place at the time the bet was made. Therefore, if the odd of the game changes before the game begins, your bet is not affected.
Another way to bet on big games is through what’s called “parlays." In a parlay bet, an individual will bet on the odds of several teams wining on any given day. Parlays are used mostly in Football as several games take place in one day. The odds of winning parlays are not very good; however, the pay outs are high.
Hockey betting is similar to other sports bets like football and basketball. Golf is also becoming increasingly popular in Vegas. Golf bets work similar to the way that other individual events like NASCAR and horse racing does.
While scanning the boards of a sportsbook, you may see something called “predictions.” They can be anything from the odds of someone winning the presidency to the odds of who will win American Idol. However, these are only “predictions” and it is illegal in Las Vegas to bet on anything that is not related to an “athletic event.”
Sports Betting Terminology:
Action: a bet
Bad Beat: losing under unusual circumstances Beard: one who places a bet for another
Beef: a dispute over the outcome of a bet
Bow-Wow: an underdog
Chalk: a favorite
Circled Game: situation where betting limits have been reduced, due to situations that could alter typical outcomes such as injuries and weather conditions
Cover: a pointspread win
Dime: $1,000
Dollar: $100
Exotic: any wager other than a straight or parlay bet, an unusual bet.
Form: print media used for horse racing data
Handicapper: a person who studies and bets based on outside factors such as statistics, injuries, weather, news, etc.
Handle: amount of money wagered
Juice: amount of commission kept by the house (aka. vigorish)
Laying a Price: playing a favorite
Limit: maximum amount of money accepted for a wager
Line: odds on a game
Middle: betting both sides of a match, at different prices hoping to win both wagers
Nickel: $500
Overlay: the odds favor the bettors over the house
Parlay: one bet ticket written with atleast two wagers
Past Post: a bet placed after the event has begun
Price: odds on a game
Puppy: the underdog
Push: a tie
Round Robin: a single ticket comprised of more than one parlay bet
Runner: someone who places bets for others
Scalper: someone who bets for both sides of the game.
Sharp: a professional or experienced sports better (aka. a Wise Guy)
Straight Bet: one wager
Taking a Price: betting on the underdog
Underlay: odds favor the house over the bettors
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